Improvement in boxes for collars and other articles, with tops for games



5.1!. GREEN & A. H. T-IFFT.

BOXES FOR COLLARS AND OTHER ARTICLES WITH TOP FOR GAMES.

Na."1'92,756. Patentecl July 3,1877.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SIDNEY H. GREEN AND ALANSON H.TIFFT, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YonK.

IMPROVEMENT IN BOXES FOR COLLARS AND OTHERARTICLESl WITH TOPS FOR GAMES.

Specification forming partof Letters Patent 110,192,756, dated July 3,1877; application filed June 14,1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, SIDNEY H. GREEN and ALANSON H. TIFFT, both of Brooklyn, county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Boxes, of which the following is a specification Numerous articles are made and sold which are supplied to the market or the public in packages or boxes, which it is the object of the dealer to make as attractive as possible consistently with cheapness. Paper collars, of which millions are sold annually, afford an example, and it is well known the manufacturers and dealers rival each other in the manner in which these wares are presented to the public.

Collar and other boxes composed of more or thus applied.

Wooden boxes have been made, but they lack the ornamental feature, without which they are unsaleable, and if ornamented by paper they are subject to the same inconveniences as the paper box. Metal boxes are too expensive and liable to be bent, and, if japanned or otherwise ornamented, to be scratched or otherwise impaired. 7

We have devised-a box which combines in itself the elements of cheapness, ornamentability, durability, and utility, in addition to that incidental to all boxes; and our invention consists in a peculiar combination of wood and metal in the construction of boxes, whereby the several advantages hereinbefore named are attained.

In illustration of our said invention we shall describe the construction of a collar-box, which we have represented in perspective view in Figure 1 of the accompanying drawing, Fig. 2 showing a vertical section of the same.

The box is composed of the body B and cover 0. Both have four sides. The former, which is generally made of greater depth than the latter, has. a bottom, while the latter has a top. The four sides are dovetailed or tenoned and mortised together at their respective contiguous sides, as shown in Fig. 1, but other methods of forming the four sides of both the body and cover, or either, may be employed, such as scoring and bending the four sides out of one single sheet of wood. The bottom piece at is let into the side pieces, which for that purpose are recessed to form a shoulder, against which the bottom piece is applied and glued in place.

The cover is made in similar manner as the body, with this difference, that along a line parallel to the upper edge of the cover-piece the sides are, as 'at g, grooved, and when the four sides are put together a sheet-metal top, S, is introduced into the groove, and thus held confined therein.

The body and cover may be united at one side by hinges h, and a spring-catch, i, may be applied on the opposite side of the hinge to lock the box.

The sheet-metal top may be ornamented in any known manner by varnish, japanning, printing, and other surface application, and there is but little danger of the same getting efi'aced from the manner in which the plate is inserted into the sides, which aflords a protective flange or border, so that when the box is put upside down on a table or support, or when several such boxes are packed together,

the metal plate will be kept some distance away from contact with the table or box or other object. The main feature, however, consists in the facility with which letters and figures (ornamental or useful) may be impressed in or applied to the top.

The plate, before being applied as described, may have on it such figures or letters struck up in dies. In the drawing the plate represents the board of a game called fox and geese, and such a. box is generally accompanied by small wooden spheres or balls of white or black dyed wood,'afl'ording an amusing toy or pastime to the owner of the box, and to that extent it is an attraction which other boxes may or may not have. namental devices may be impressed upon the plate, or the name of the manufacturer or dealer, or any trade-mark may in this way be permanently combined with the box as a means of preventing others from using the Other 'or-' boxes over again in their own business, and for other purposes.

For game-boxes the combination of metal and wood is practically useful in cases where, as on railroads and steamships, the men or pieces or balls may roll off the board, if evensurfaced. With the recesses or depressions to hold the pieces constructed to fit such recesses, game-boards could be used even on ocean steamers during moderately stormy weather.

Othes means of securing the top in the box may be used in lieu of that shown and described.

Having thus described our said invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be carried into efl'ect, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, with a wooden box body and metal top cover, of hinges and fastenings, substantially as set forth.

2. A wooden box, the cover or top of which is composed of sheet metal, struck up to present on its face corrugations or recesses or depressions of anornamental or useful character, substantially as set forth.

3. A combined wooden and metal box, the metal constituting the top being inserted in grooved sides, so as to form a protecting flange around the metal, substantially as shown and set forth.

4. As a new article of manufacture, a metaltop wooden game-box.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto signed our names this 13th day of June, A. D. 1877.

SIDNEY H. GREEN. ALANSON H. TIFFT.

Witnesses:

FEEEK. B. SWIFT, FERNANDO SOLINGEB. 

